praxidice:

There are all sorts of reasons why it would be difficult to get a visa, notwithstanding the cost, and having a lawyer may not be especially effective, particularly in a developing country like Sri Lanka. For example, if you don't know English, and you have no particular sellable skills, no amount of money or effort will necessarily allow you to secure a visa to live in Sri Lanka.

Yes, I agree that people intend to buck the system. That is part of my argument. I am saying that they try to buck the system because they have no other choice.

Rhian:

I am not necessarily saying that the current system isn't fair, I am just questioning whether it is. I think there is an element of classism at play here: the government would prefer to have skilled people, yes, but having skilled people also requires that they be from a sufficiently privileged socio-economic background. This is a problem, and one that is not easy to resolve. I accept that, certainly.

James
sorry to sound harsh, but why is it a problem? Or rather, for whom is it a problem? I can see very good reasons why the Australian government would want to ensure that economically disadvantaged Australias get fair access to, for example, health and education services. But no reason at all why it shoud try to ensure that economically disadvantaged Singhalese get "fair" access to our migration program.

If they aren't 'proper' refugees they are illegals. As such, Australia has every right to say 'rack off hairy legs'. Sri Lanka isn't stone-age, in fact its a reasonably developed place with a thriving tourist industry, tea plantations and most of the 21st century trappings. There would be no shortage of lawyers who speak the native Tamil & Singha languages, for that matter half the population probably speaks some approximation of english anyway. There is a finite limit to how many illegals we can afford, and if the truth be known, we've we've already passed that point years ago. Note the so called 'refugees who ended up at Nauru & asked to be sent back to Sri Lanka ... quite obviously they were opportunists and no doubt the same applies to all their countrymen. There is most definitely no case for allowing anyone from Sri Lanka to lob here on a boat from Indonesia, if the can't come legitimately with a proper visa they should stay where they came from.

praxicide

The Tamils are a persecuted minority and the Sri Lankan government, military and police have an appaling human rights record. I don't doubt there are Sri Lankans at risk of harm and persecution who are entitled to claim asylum here. But those are not the people this article is about.